# Good or Great Performances from Actors You Usually Can't Stand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183 "2016-08-18T16:30:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/41 "2016-08-22T15:46:27Z")
But an Oscar nomination for “Pulp Fiction” ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/42 "2016-08-22T15:51:40Z")
I’ve never cared for David Duchovny, but after rewatching _Twin Peaks_, I have to say that he did a fine job as the cross-dressing DEA agent. No ego, no brooding. He understood the show’s vibe and fit right in. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/43 "2016-08-22T17:27:53Z")
Mel Gibson in _Gallipoli_ Barbra Streisand in _What’s Up, Doc?_ ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/44 "2016-08-22T17:34:23Z")
Ryan O’Neal in **Paper Moon**. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/45 "2016-08-22T19:38:59Z")
> [@BomTek](#): > > I think it’s funny how so many here are saying they can’t stand Nic Cage, but naming all these movies he was great in. And I agree, I think he was excellent in many of them, but the thing about Nic Cage is that, when you look at his whole career, he seems to have only taken the very best and the very worst scripts that have come across his desk. It’s because he hasnt made a good film for a decade. Two dozen bad films in a row. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/46 "2016-08-22T19:52:11Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Yeah, can’t stand the guy but I’ve hardly seen a movie of his where I didn’t find him compelling. It seems to me that his most compelling roles are when he plays a douchy Tom Cruise-like character who at some point has to face up to his douchiness. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/47 "2016-08-22T21:15:41Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > I know he is really popular but I generally find **Bruce Campbell** to be a poor actor. I know he aims for a cheesy style but I find it too contrived and one dimensional. > > However I felt that in **Bubba Ho-Tep** (where he played an aged Elvis Presley who everyone else believed was a fake Elvis Presley) he gave a genuine performance. He acted like a resigned, bitter old man who no one believes. Became cheesy by the end of the film but he was good until then. > > TCMF-2L I think the trick with Bruce Campbell is realizing just how well he does the cheesy style; it could be so much worse than he does it. There’s a kind of a wink and a nudge style self-aware quality to it that I can’t quite explain, and other cheesy actors like Will Ferrell’s performances don’t quite have that. They’re notable for almost the exact opposite- an absolute obliviousness that in some roles is absolutely perfect, and grating in others. For example, Bruce Campbell does a great sort of action-hero send-up character, which is why he was good in the Evil Dead movies and in Burn Notice, while Will Ferrell’s oblivious characters do well in Elf and Anchorman. But in say… Old School, it’s a bit unbelievable that anyone in his position would be THAT clueless, so it was kind of jarring, even for a rather absurd movie. Similarly, Campbell’s schtick wouldn’t have worked in a lot of movies. But Campbell’s a solid character actor- like has been mentioned, check out the beginning of Bubba Ho-Tep for an example. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/48 "2016-08-23T06:27:04Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > It seems to me that his most compelling roles are when he plays a douchy Tom Cruise-like character who at some point has to face up to his douchiness. Edge of Tomorrow! Got to watch him die over and over and over again and again. It was truly wonderful. Then he went out and was actually a good guy. ---
**Author:** ![TYphoonSignal8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@TYphoonSignal8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TYphoonSignal8)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/49 "2016-08-23T09:53:07Z")
I really liked “Edge of Tomorrow”. But I thought it was the plot that carried it, not the acting. Tom Cruise got up my nose as he always does but I suppose that was the point of his character. Having said that I really liked Tom Cruise in “Interview with the Vampire”. He played a truly evil, sadistic villain without any redeeming qualities at all. It was a unique role for him (I vaguely recall he copped some flack about his role in that movie immediately after its release, specifically from fans in the audience of an episode of “Oprah”. Cruise seemed to struggle with their complaints. It was an unfair thing for an actor to deal with). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/50 "2016-08-23T13:40:44Z")
> [@TYphoonSignal8](#): > > I really liked “Edge of Tomorrow”. But I thought it was the plot that carried it, not the acting. Tom Cruise got up my nose as he always does but I suppose that was the point of his character. > > Having said that I really liked Tom Cruise in “Interview with the Vampire”. He played a truly evil, sadistic villain without any redeeming qualities at all. It was a unique role for him (I vaguely recall he copped some flack about his role in that movie immediately after its release, specifically from fans in the audience of an episode of “Oprah”. Cruise seemed to struggle with their complaints. It was an unfair thing for an actor to deal with). Cruise is a total weirdo in real life, but despite that, he’s a solid actor. Watch “Interview with the Vampire”, “War of the Worlds”, “Tropic Thunder” and “Edge of Tomorrow”, and you’ll see four very different, well-realized characters. They’re all very clearly Cruise- for one thing, his voice is kind of hard to miss, but I never thought that Ray Ferrier was Lestat, or that William Cage was Les Grossman, or any of the other characters. Can’t say that about a lot of other actors, where they more or less play the same character over and over again, a-la Keanu Reeves or Nicholas Cage. ---
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/51 "2016-08-23T14:35:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It’s because he hasnt made a good film for a decade. Two dozen bad films in a row. Lol, you don’t think there are FAR more bad scripts floating around Hollywood than good ones? Granted, you’d think at least one of those good ones would have found Cage, but apparently not. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/52 "2016-08-23T14:39:40Z")
ITA with bump. Cruise is an odd duck in every way, but he is a fine actor with real range. ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/53 "2016-08-24T05:06:24Z")
In a fine bit of casting, Arnold Schwarzenegger really nails the part of a hulking robot with no emotions and almost no dialogue in the _Terminator_ series. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/54 "2016-08-24T05:50:41Z")
> [@nachtmusick](#): > > In a fine bit of casting, Arnold Schwarzenegger really nails the part of a hulking robot with no emotions and almost no dialogue in the _Terminator_ series. Kevin Costner was similarly well-cast in **The Big Chill.** ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183/55 "2016-08-25T17:13:13Z")
I’m not a Brad Pitt fan and he has never really impressed me in a role other than this one, but he was AWESOME in **The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford**. He channeled the descent into paranoiac violence just incredibly well – he had my full attention whenever he was onscreen and I palpably felt tense watching him and fearing what he would do next. This is the role that convinced me he was legitimately a truly gifted actor (when he wants to be or has a good script…I don’t know). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-or-great-performances-from-actors-you-usually-cant-stand/763183.md?page=2)